Hungary demands assurances from Ukraine: OTP Bank must stay off war sponsor list

"The exclusion of OTP by Ukraine from the list of international sponsors of the war is a step in the right direction, but the Hungarian government wants guarantees that the bank will not be added to this list in the future," he said.

The Minister adds that he has invited representatives of Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention to Budapest to negotiate an agreement that would ensure OTP Bank is not added to this list in the future.

"If a hopeful agreement is reached there, of course, we will have to consider what steps it will require on our part," Szijjarto said.

Hungary has devised new demands for Ukraine

The Minister states that the National Agency on Corruption Prevention also has a list subject to sanctions, which still includes the Russian unit of OTP Bank and four managers of Hungarian banks.

"We expect that these four leaders of OTP and the Russian entity will be removed from the list of the Ukrainian anti-corruption agency," he said.

What led to this

In May, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption decided to include Hungarian OTP Bank in the list of international sponsors of the war.

OTP is among the top 50 largest banks in Russia and is a leader in various segments of the market. According to OTP Group's 2021 report, the net profit of the Russian bank amounted to 37.6 billion forints, or 7.6% of the group's total profit.

Almost immediately, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijjarto, stated that it would be difficult for Budapest to reach an agreement with the European Union on new sanctions against Russia.

Two days ago, it became known that Ukraine, as a result of previous agreements, decided to exclude the Hungarian OTP Bank from the list of international sponsors of the war.